How does acupuncture treat pain?

Acupuncture treats all types of pain by reducing inflammation, increasing blood circulation, changing the perception of pain and breaking up local muscle spasms. Watch as acupuncturist Jill Blakeway describes why acupuncture is so effective for pain.

Transcript

00:00

So lots of people ask me about acupuncture for pain. And it works in several different ways, and I think that's why it's so powerful.

00:07

It reduces inflammation and there are actually studies, thermal imaging studies, that show that inflammation goes down with acupuncture.

00:13

And there are Doppler ultrasound studies that show that it increases blood circulation and that, too, helps with pain. And then there are neuro imaging studies

00:20

that show that it changes the perception of pain in the brain. And you can actually see on the studies, the pain receptor areas in the brain calming down, which I think is interesting.

00:29

It also sometimes breaks up local muscle spasms and lumpy, sort of, tight muscles, and it interrupts nerve signals.

00:36

So you can imagine with all of those things going on, that's why it's stood the test of time. That's why for 2,000 years, people have been using acupuncture for pain.

00:44

People, I think, think about acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain, and it's great for that, but in our practice, we treat everything really,

00:51

from migraines to menstrual cramps. I used to work in a hospital for many years and I treated really serious post-operative pain and cancer

00:59

patients who had pain, and it was really very effective. So it treats a wide variety of pain, even sort of dental pain

01:06

and facial pain. It's a very interesting and useful modality.